News

MasterMover See Impressive Growth In Sales Of Electric Operated Tugs

A UK manufacturer of pedestrian, electric-operated tugs for materials handling applications has seen an impressive 12 per cent growth in sales revenues in 2008, bucking the current trend in the UK and global markets.

Andy Owen, Managing Director at MasterMover Ltd based in Ashbourne, says the company should see a similar increase in sales in 2009. “Despite the difficult ongoing economic conditions in the UK, MasterMover has continued to improve its position in the market in terms of sales growth. There is more interest in our products than ever before, from all types of industries around the world, including food processing, retail, logistics, manufacturing, automotive, aerospace, the health service and special, custom-designed units,” he said.

According to Owen, MasterMover’s continued success is down to a combination of factors: new innovative product introductions; a new website; excellent after-sales support services; and a total commitment by MasterMover to become more customer-focused in terms of how the company’s products help bring benefits to the customer, including higher efficiencies, improved productivity and labour savings.

“We’ve really focused on what is important to the customer’s business and how our products can help support their manufacturing initiatives, warehouse or logistics operations. Most customers already know how safe our products are, but we’ve now opened their eyes to how our products can also be integrated with their lean manufacturing operation, Kanban systems and other business efficiency drives.”

MasterMover’s new-look website, launched last month, has also been a hit with customers. As well improved look-and-feel and easier navigation, customers visiting the website can now look at specific application examples or case studies from their own industry, including examples from the healthcare sector, manufacturing and assembly, retail, airports, warehouse and storage, logistics, food & beverage, and pharmaceuticals. Benefits are then clearly listed for that particular industry sector, along with the relevant product information and technical data.

The website also provides video content and a popular ‘quick response’ option, where users are invited to submit information (including photographs) about their specific application to a MasterMover engineer, who will then respond with an appropriate solution. Users can also arrange a free demonstration of a product, where a MasterMover regional engineer will visit the customer site to show how the machine works.

The website has become an online forum for customers, says Owen, where users can share ideas with their counterparts from other industry sectors.

Ongoing new product developments have also been key to MasterMover’s sustained success. As Andy Owen points out: “We are continuously developing new products. In the last 12 months for example, we’ve launched a new trailer system for our MasterTug range, which enables multiple static loads, such as pallets, to be moved around. One person is now able to move multiple loads, for example three or four trolleys using a single machine. We’ve also launched new products into the healthcare sector, including a brand new patient bed-mover. Also, following excellent feedback from our retail and healthcare customers, we developed a new SmartMover-Plus version for our industrial applications.”

Adjustable, interchangeable coupling systems for pedestrian-operated tugs have also helped customers to get more from their investment. “We’ve developed a range of couplings that can be adapted to different applications. These couplings enable the customer to purchase a tug for a specific application, and then use the same tug for a completely different application later. The customers gets a more flexible product that can be used in a warehouse on week and the manufacturing area the next week,” he adds.

As well as continuing to serve the UK and overseas markets including France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Australia, MasterMover has also opened up new export markets for its products, including South America and India.

Over the last few months, MasterMover has also invested more in its people, with new regional service engineers, sales and marketing staff.